Review Article

The Beliefs, Myths, and Reality Surrounding the Word Hema (Blood) from Homer to the Present

Table 1

Examples of words in the english dictionary containing the greek word “hema” and its derivatives.

(1) Unedited or compound Greek words
(i) Hematemesis (H. +G. “emesis”=vomiting),
(ii) Hematocrit (“hema” +G. “krites”=judge),
(iii) Hemapheresis (H. +G. “apheresis”=removing),
(iv) Hemodialysis (H. +G. “dialysis”=dissolution),
(v) Hemochromatosis (H. +G. “chroma”=color, “chrosis”=coloration),
(vi) Hemolysis (H. +G. “lysis”=disintegration of cells),
(vii) Hemopoiesis (H. +G. “poio”=to produce),
(viii) Hemorrage (H. +G. “rhegnymae”=to burst forth), h
(ix) Hemostasis (H. +G. “stasis”=halt),
(x) Oligemia (G. “oligos”=few, little + H.), and so forth.

(2) Greek words compounds with
(a) The prefixes hyper- (G. “hyper”=over, above, excessive, beyond)
    (i) Hyperglycemia (G. “hyper” +G. “glykys”=sweet +G. “hema”)
    (ii) Hyperuricemia (G. “hyper” +G “ourico”=uric +G. “hema)
(b) The prefixes hypo- (“G. “hypo”=below, beneath, under, less than normal)
    (i) Hypoxemia (G. “hypo” +G. “oxy”=oxygen +G. “hema” )
    (ii) Hypokalemia (G. “hypo” +G. “kalio”=pottasium +G. “hema”)
(c) The prefixes auto- (G. “auto”=self, same),
    (i) Autohemolysis (G. “auto” + H. +G. “lysis”=gradual decline)
(d) The prefixes iso- (G. “iso”=equal, uniform)
    (i) Isohemolysis (G. “iso” + G. H. +G. “lysis”=gradual decline))
(e) Adding one privative a- (G. “α-”=without, not)
    (i) Anemia (“a-” + G. “hema”).
(f) Compound Greek and Latin words
     (i) Hemoglobin (“hema”. +L. “globin”= G. “spherine”=globus, globulin),
     (ii) Immunohemolysis (G. “anoso”= L. “immuno” + G. “hema” +G. “lysis”=gradual decline), and so forth.

G. Greek word,
H. Hema,
L. Latin word